Opening Night

Opening Night is a pressed flake Cornell & Diehl builds purely from Virginia leaf. Per the maker's description, the body is shared between full-bodied red Virginias and fine-structured bright Virginias. Once pressed and sliced, the resulting flake carries the red leaf's breadlike dark sweetness alongside the bright leaf's grassy, citrus line.

It carries no casing — all the sweetness comes from the leaf's own sugar. Whether the flake is rubbed out or folded for packing adjusts the burn pace; smoked too fast, it can show the tongue bite typical of Virginias. Suited to smokers wanting to get to know a straight Virginia line and looking for a blend well suited to aging.